[Volcana]

Which of these players ends the year ranked highest? As you can see, these are all players who've had challenges. Most have had injuries. Alex and Patty have had unique forms of wierdness. They've all had to come back from way down. So who ends the year ranked highest? Mary's the best player, but she has the farthest to go.

The numbers are current singles rank and highest singles rank. As youcan see, all these players are former top tenners except Alex and Mirjana.

35 Alexandra Stevenson

42 Patty Schnyder

55 Iva Majoli

61 Chanda Rubin

89 Anna Kournikova

200 Mirjana Lucic

213 Mary Pierce

 

[Philip]

Well no guesses to which of those i voted for
Vamos Anna!

(Alex is looking good, however, i don't see her entering the top 20 soon, although i could be wrong, )

And also go Patty

 

[Wally]

def alex!

she is more of a threat to the top players than anyone else right now!

anna WILL be a threat to them just not yet!

 

[setpoint]

I feel if Chanda Rubin has fully recovered from her injuries, she has the most complete all court game to be a real threat to the top 15 players. When healthy she has the talent to beat anyone on the tour, when she is playing her best. I am looking forward to her return at Scottsdale, Indian Wells and other tournaments.

 

[TheBoiledEgg]

Anya

 

[Hurley]

Anna will end the year 11-20, Alex 15-25. So it could be Alex but I think it will be Anna.

 

[Becool]

Alex and Anna going to top 20 this year!

 

[Crazy Canuck]

I picked Alex.

I don't know very much and have seen little of, Mirijuana and Chanda, so I can't really form an educated opinion on them.

Mary hopefully will come back storming, but untill I see her play a few weeks in a row without an injury, I will have to wonder when it will stop

I expect Patty and Iva will do well, and be consistent, but can't see them causing the big guns any problems at the moment.

If I could have picked two I'd have picked Anna. It was a toss between her and Alex for me.

Anna needs a couple decent draws (read: not facing a Williams in the second round), and she's have been my first pick.

 

[Maajken]

Anna no doubt

 

[Mateo Mathieu]

Alexandra The Greatest!

 

[thefreedesigner]

Very interesting candidates, and not at all straightforward to pick one.


I like the fact that Alex (really unlike any other player on that list at the moment) is prepared to do whatever it takes to get ahead, she's also not afraid of vocalising this.

Not actually seen her play for a long while now, but her results are getting consistently better, and more consistent.

Mary, Chanda and Mirjana seem injury prone so who knows when the next inury will rear it's ugly head.

Mary is the class player of the field, Mirjana the classiest of the younger players. Patty has freakish talents but I can only see her off-court issues getting worse before they get better.

Alex has the most recent win over a Top Tenner (Jen in, I think Sydney), so I'll plump for her. I like a challenge.

 

[per4ever]

Anna of course..she's ranked way too low now

 

[Williams Rulez]

Iva!!

 

[Martian Martin]

Definitely Anna

 

[sartrista7]

Good thread with good choice of players, all very interesting cases. It was between Anna and Alexandra for me - although we're only 2 months into the season, it's not really enough to forecast the rest of the year's results. But although Alexandra's on fire right now, it's not really accurate to say that she's faring better than Kournikova against the big players: sure, she beat Capriati, but she's also lost to the majorly-slumping Likhovtseva. Kournikova may have got flattened by Venus, but she's given Seles a better match than Stevenson and has pushed Henin and Serena. She also seems more consistent - i.e. less likely to flame out in the first round - and also has more of an all-court game, i.e. the clay-court season won't be a write-off. So my vote goes to Anna.
I would have loved to vote for Iva, but with injuries flaring up again and no sign of a Capriati-style resurgence, I think I'll have to wait another year . Mirjana and Mary have the most talent of them all, but, right now, you can't predict anything for Mirjana and Mary looks closer to retirement than the top 100. Chanda? Even without injuries, she's not as much of a threat as Kournikova. Patty - unfortunately seems to have settled into her role as a consistent top 50 player who hangs around between 20 and 50.

 

[Volcana]

I see Alex continuing to make slow steady progress. As in she'll finish the year ranked between #20 and #30. Any of the others could finish higher, if they overcome their individual challenges. A GS semi would put any of them in the top twentry for the year, except Mirjana and Mary. Mary would have to win RG or the US Open. Those are things Mirjana can't do.

Patty is a head case.

Iva is not old. But while she's been off-form, even the clay court game has sped up. I don't know if she's a good enough athlete anymore to BE a top cal courter.

Chanda has been a mass of injuries. But if she could stay healthy long enough to find her form, she she pop up in the QF's of any GS. The draw would have to open up for.

Anna is a player I don't understand. She should have been beack in the top fifty at least by now. I'm beginning to feel that maybe she DOES need to cut back on the photo shoots and video stuff. Mentally, she hasn't got it going on. I'm don't think she's stupid, but I don't think she's using her intelligence when she plays. Or her lack of control of her nerves betrays her ability to perform. I can't pick her because she never shown any sign of realizing that her problems are mental.

Mirjana is too far down tha rankings too long. She hasn't palyed well since coming to the States. And she has never displayed the talent level needed to compete at 2002's top level.

Mary is a wait-and-see. If she does some damage at Hamburg and Berlin, she has a chance.

****

This is sentimental, but I'm going with a classy veteran. Chanda Rubin.

 

[Philip]

Anna is a player I don't understand. She should have been beack in the top fifty at least by now.

Well... that is quite impossible for Anna to be back in top 50 now. She droped to the 70's at the end of 2001 cause of her Chase points deducting, then coming into 2002 she had 4 tournaments inwhich she had to defend, Sydney 2rd(successfully defended, beaten by Serena in 3sets), Australian Open QF(beaten 1rd, by henin, bad draw, drops to 99), TokyoPP SF (successfully defended, beaten by Seles in 3sets) and finally Paris indoors QF(beaten 2rd, mauresmo in 2)

The only extra tournaments she played was Auckland, she made SF.

So really it is impossible for Anna to be back in top 50 anytime before march, unless she won Aus, Tokyo, Paris ect

But she will be back in top 50 sometime in the next couple of months hopefully with no points to defend

Just wanted to clear this up

 

[Jippo McScally]

Iva is not old. But while she's been off-form, even the clay court game has sped up. I don't know if she's a good enough athlete anymore to BE a top cal courter.

I dont agree with that!! She's twice nearly beaten Martina Hingis but was injured(or "Injured" as in one case). She has he game and the athleticisim but constantly get's injured

 

[Volcana]

Philip - I stand corrected. I tend to forget that Anna did not miss ALL of last year.

 

[Nina_rus]

Kournikova